EPA continues to monitor dispersant use in response to Gulf of Mexico oil spill

Gerald Herbert/The Associated PressEPA Administrator Lisa Jackson's visit to Louisiana on Wednesday was her fourth in the past month. She was photographed May 24 looking at an oil sample she scooped from the side of her boat while touring marshes in Pass a Loutre.

Jackson came to the area Monday for her fourth visit in the past month. She had planned to tour the Grand Isle area from a boat Wednesday to examine beach clean-up and marsh impacts, but inclement weather prevented the tour.

The primary reason for the visit, Jackson said, was to examine BP's response to the directive issued by the EPA and Coast Guard May 26 that called for reducing the use of chemical dispersants by 75 percent. To do so, BP should eliminate the surface application of dispersants and be limited to 15,000 gallons a day of subsurface application, the directive stated.

For use of dispersants beyond that amount, the Coast Guard on-scene coordinator needs to provide a written approval letter for that specific day.

Although the EPA and the Coast Guard initially approved of unlimited use of dispersants in the oil spill, the agencies on May 20 issued a directive to BP to identify a less toxic and more effective dispersant than Corexit, the one the company was using, amid complaints from some members of Congress and environmentalists.

Two days later, BP officials said they were not able to find a safe, effective alternative. The current directive was issued in response, and the EPA is continuing to conduct its own studies to find an alternative dispersant.

The current directive reflects EPA's view that dispersants should be a last-resort option, Jackson said.

"Surface burning, collection, booming and skimming are more effective and preferable to spraying dispersants," Jackson said in a statement issued Wednesday. "A limited use of dispersants in the subsea is much, much better than spraying large amounts of chemicals at the surface."

The goal is to keep large oil slicks, which are more toxic than dispersants, away from shallow waters and "destroying our estuaries, our wetlands and our way of life," she stated.

According to Jackson, BP has agreed to the directive and has reduced the use of dispersants since the directive was issued.

She noted, however, that the EPA's role in the oil spill is to support the Coast Guard, which is in charge of the federal government's response.

"We have been very hands-on in supporting the Coast Guard in the issue of dispersants," Jackson said. "I take very seriously that it is my job to advise them."

She said the EPA is continuing to collect air and water samples, and so far, scientists are not seeing dispersant chemicals in either. BP is also checking toxicity at subsea levels, and those also appear to be normal, she said. This, she said, should be good news for those working on the clean-up.

"The last thing they need to worry about is additional health concerns from dispersants," she said.

Jackson, a native of New Orleans, said coming back for the oil spill is a mixed homecoming.

"After the spill, I feel there is an extra imperative in my work," she said.